Process of and apparatus for disintegrating fibrous substances



(No Model.)

- J. B. CARTER & J. H. BRRST.

PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS FOR DISINTBGRATING PIBROUS SUBSTANCES.

No. 487,912. Patented Dec. 13, 1892.

m: Noflms wzrzns co.. Pno'rouwq. WASHINGTON, n. c.

embodying our invention.

UNITED STATES PATENT O EicE.

JOHN B. CARTER AND JESSE H. BERST, OF KOKOMO, INDIANA.

PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS FOR DISINTEGRATING FIBROUS SUBSTANCES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 487,912, dated December13, 1892.

Application filed February 9, 1892. Serial No. 420,856- (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, JOHN B. CARTER and JESSE H. BERST, of Kokomo, inthe county of Howard and State of Indiana, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Processes of and Apparatus for DisintegratingFibrous Substances; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use it,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form part ofthis specification.

Our invention relates to a process of and apparatus for the mechanicalreduction of fibrous substances to their primitive fibers.

Heretofore fibrous materialssueh as wood and strawhave generally beenmechanically reduced to be converted into pulp by grinding or cuttingthe stock into a powder and then subjecting this reduced stock to abeating process in a pulp-beating engine to give it the felting qualitynecessary before it can be converted into paper. The objection to thesemethods is that theprimitive or natural fiber is cut, crushed, orbroken, so that there is not now any known mechanical process by whichthe primitive fibers and tissues of the stock can be disintegrated andseparated to leave them in their natural shape and length.

By means of our process to be fully described hereinafter, which iscarried out by an apparatus substantially like that herein shown, we areenabled to mechanically disintegrate and separate the primitive fibersand tissues of fibrous substances without cutting, grinding, breaking,or otherwise injuring them to the slightest degree by revolving aquantity of the stock to be reduced upon its own axis under properpressure.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a vertical longitudinalsection of an apparatus Fig. 2 is a similar view of a modified form.Fig. 3 is a plan View of the same. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of oneof the modified rolls. Fig. 5 is a view showing the manner of cuttingthe slabs to be rolled.

A indicates a tank or vessel of any suitable size, in which is suitablyjournaled a roller B. Placed beneath this roller B is a concaved rollingsurface 0, slightly roughened, and

which is adjustably held in relation to the lower periphery of the rollby means of a screw D, as will be readily understood. The inlet end E ofthe concaved surface 0 is further from the periphery of the roll B thanthe exit end F, for a purpose to be described farther on. This tank Ahas placed therein a quantity of water, which is preferably of a depthindicated by the dotted line a b. In order to allow the water in thetank A to pass between the roller 13 and the surface 0, the said surfaceis narrower than the tank, to leave a space between it and the side ofthe tank for this purpose, as will be readily understood. In thisinstance the surface 0 is formed of a solid block of suitable material,though it may be made in any other convenient or desirable mannerwithout affecting the spirit of our invention.

The wood to be mechanically disintegrated is cut into pieces or blocksapproximately an inch square and twelve inches long, with the grainrunning lengthwise thereof, and placed into a boiler, where they aresubjected to steam-pressure from ten to fifteen hours, until they havebecome slightly softened.

The shape or form of the wood is not essential to the carrying out ofour process; and we therefore do not limit ourselves in this respect.

Instead of forming the wood into blocks, as just described, it may beformed into curled slabs with the grain running lengthwise and of fromone-quarter to one-half of an inch in thickness, as shown in Fig. 5. Weprefer, however, to prepare the wood by cutting it into shavings similarto excelsior, then boiling or steaming them. This is advantageous forthe reason that pigment and coloring-matter are more readily removedfrom the wood in the boiling process when in this form, and also for thereason that when so prepared a portion of the process hereinafterdescribed can be omitted, which is necessary when the wood is preparedin billets or slabs. In either case the prepared wood will be subjectedto low steam-pressure for the purpose of slightly softening it. Theseblocks, billets, or curled slabs are then placed in the inlet end of theconcave rolling-surface O, and are caught by the roller B, which isslightly roughened to take a hold upon the curled slab or billet toprevent it from slipping, as is also the concaved surface for the samepurpose. The roller B is revolved in the direction indicated by arrow atany suitable speed, and the billet or slab is rolled upon its own axisand at right angles to its grain between the rollers and the concavedsurface. As the billet is rolled it assumes first substantially acylindrical form, and as it is gradually carried to the exit end itassumes an elliptical shape, as shown, until it drops out of the exitend. This rolling or revolving of the stock upon its own axis un derpressure causes the plane of pressure upon the stock to be continuallychanged, and effects an abrading or moving action of the fibers one uponthe other throughout the entire body thereof, which is exceedinglyeffectual in completely separating the fibers whether the quantity ofstock be in the form of a billet or in the form of a wad of half-stuff,to be fully described farther on. The space between the periphery of theroller and the concaved surface is regulated according to the size ofthe billet or curled slab, so that it is not subjected to sufficientpressure while being rolled to crush, break, or injure the fibersthereof in any manner whatever.

We have found that the rolling of the material in the manner justdescribed loosens and separates the primitive fiber thereof in a mannernot heretofore accomplished by mechanical means. It will be readilyconceived and understood that while this material is being rolled underpressure in a soft condition all of the fibers throughout the Wholebillet or slab are moved from their natural relative positions. Severalpassages of the material through this roll will so separate anddisentegrate the primitive fibers by rolling them apart that the billetor slab when it comes from the exit end of the roll cannot be handledwithout coming to pieces. It will be noticed that while the material isbeing rolled it is at the same time kept well saturated with water,which is between the roller 13 and the concaved surface 0, which duringthe process washes the material, and the continued rolling thereof underwater imparts thereto a felting quality. This disintegrated material canthen be passed, as above described, a sufficient number of times toconvert the fibers into a pulp suitable to be converted into paper.

From this description it will be seen that the billet or slab is reducedto its primitive fibers without mashing, cutting, or injuring them,which is not the case in other disentegrating or reducing machines. \Vehave found that fibers of wood are very short and have pointed ends.Under a powerful magnifying glass We find that the fibers of hardwoodsuch as hickory-are about an eighth of an inch long. In all woodsthe fibers are coated and united by a resinous matter which unites themand makes the solid wood.

When it is desired to reduce the material to its finest fibers and tomake the disentegration and separation of all the fibers complete andperfect We pass the material in the manner above described a sufficientnumber of times to cause it to separate. We then continue this sameprocess or method of revolving or rolling a suitable quantity of thestock upon its own axis by placing the disintegrated mass of fibers in atank G of the modified machine, which has a proper quantity of watertherein, as indicated by dotted line 0 d. Journaled Within this tank atone side of'a central vertical partition H are any desired number ofrolls I. These rolls I are provided with annular grooves .T, to formannular ribs K,andwithlongitudinalribsL. Placedaround each of theserollers is a wirenetting or screen M, which thus forms a water-spacebetween the screen-surface and the bottom of the grooves, as will beunderstood. Placed be low these rolls are the concaved surfaces N, whichare shaped, as shown, with the back fall P continuing on to the inletend Q of the succeeding roll. These rolls are driven by means of a beltpassing around a pulley upon the shaft of one of them, and motion istransmitted from this to the other rolls by means of the gear-wheels Rand idlers S, placed between them, which revolve all the rolls in thesame direction, or they can be driven by belts or in any otherconvenient manner. The water-line in this tank is preferably a littleabove the inlet end of the concave surface, so that the material placedin the water will float into the inlet. When the rolls are started, thewater is caught by the longitudinal ribs L and carried over to the backfall of each roll, and thereby a current is caused in the tank aroundthe vertical partition, as shown by arrow. This current carries thepartially-reduced mass to the first roll. The water passing through thescreen causes the pulpy mass to thicken and collect thereon, and as theroll revolves this thickened and collected mass is brought invcontactwith the concaved surface and formed into a roll or wad, which is rolledon its axis between the roll and the concaved surface, passing out theexitend thereof to the next roll. It will be understood, of course, thatwhile in this instance the greater portion of the fibers will becollected to extend in a line with the axis of the wad the other fiberswill be in all possible positions. This, however, does not affect ourprocess of rolling a quantity of stock upon its own axis, for theabrading or rolling action of the fibers one upon the otheris stillcontinued by the changing of the line of pressure upon the wad, whichcauses further reduction and washing thereof. The longitudinal ribs uponthe roll carry sufficient water to the exit end to wash this roll or waddown the inclined surface to the inlet end of the next roll, thus makingthe feeding action entirely automatic. The water carried over also keepsthe rolled mass thoroughly saturated, which is Very desirable in thereduction of fiber, as it is impossible to keep the pulpy mass too wetduring the reducing process. In this manner the partial disintegratedmaterial is gathered by the roll and carried around by it, which formsit into a roll of a size equal to the space between the screen and therollingsurface. It is then carried around the central vertical partitionby the current, and is again caught by and passes through the rolls. Thematerial is subjected to this rolling process sufficiently long toperfectly disintegrate and separate the fibers of the wood and to giveto it the necessary felting quality. Owing to the construction of theselast-mentioned rolls, a large quantity of the pulpy mass can be gatheredby the rolls, and as the material thus gathered is rolled and squeezedthe water therein passes through the screen into the water-way groovesof the rolls. This enables the process to be carried on much morerapidly than would be possible if the rolls were solid, and by thissqueezing action forces the water through the collected mass and washesit. The necessity for subjecting the disintegrated material to this lastrolling action in the modified machine to make a very finedisintegration is that the roll B cannot be placed near enough to theconcaved surface 0 to make disintegration fine and perfect, as such anadjustment would crush the fiber in the first instance, which must beavoided. However, we desire it to be understood that the last rollingaction is exactly the same as the first, and is only carrying theprocess shown in Fig. 1 to a greater degree to make the fibers finer, asthe first rolling action would be amply sufficient'for coarse paper orcard-board by passing the material a sufficient number of times.

l/Vhile we have described and shown a roll and a concaved surfacecoacting therewith for rolling the stock, it will be understood thatthis is not essential or indispensable, for the stock may be rolledbetween straight surfaces.

Our process consists in rolling or revolving a quantity of the stock tobe reduced under pressure upon its axis between surfaces, so that thenatural relative positions of the fibers thereof are constantly changingand the fibers rolled apart. This disturbance is noticed most at firstat the center of the billet or roll, and as the operation proceedsgradually approaches the periphery.

When the wood is put into the form of shavings, as before set forth, theroll B is dispensed with and the shavings are only subjected to theaction of the modified rolls. From this it will be seen that the roll Band the modified rolls are separate machines, either of which will serveto carry out our process, while under the conditions first specifiedherein we prefer to subject the billets to the action of the roller Band then to the modified rolls to further reduce the fiber and give toit a felting quality. It will also be understood that 'the billets orslabs can be placed directlyin the modified machine without firstsubjecting them to the action of the roller B and concave roller-surfaceG. In this instance the slab or billet will preferably be guided to thefirst roll in its first passage in order'that it may be'fed thereto inits proper position to be operated upon.

After the pulpy mass has passed through the modified rolls they pass outin the form of small rolls, and it is desirable to break them up beforethey reach the roll for a second pass. This is done by means of anagitator V, of any suitable construction, which is placed within thetank G. In this way the rolls of pulpy mass after passing through therolls are thoroughly broken up, to be again gathered by the first roll,as before described. By means of this operation the fibers of the massare caught and rolled in a different position each time, which makes thedisintegration more rapid and. thorough, as will be understood, thanwould be possible if the rolls were not broken up by an agitator of somekind.

By our process the disintegration is more rapid than by the ordinaryprocess, for the reason that the whole of the billet or substance beingreduced is acted upon at one and the same time and not merely thesurface thereof, as heretofore. The fiber is superior to othermechanically-reduced fiber,'as it is not cut, crushed, broken, orinjured in any manner.

It will be seenthat our process differs radically from those which havepreceded us in that we roll the wood and cause the fibers to be rolledor tumbled apart in contradistinction to rubbing, cutting, crushing, andgrinding, as has been the practice heretofore; It will also be noticedthat the wood is rolled at first at right angles to its grain, so thatthe fiber is not broken, as would be the case if rolled in a linetherewith. However, after it has been reduced to a semi-pulpy state andthus made pliable the fiber can be wadded' into a promiscuous ball andpassed through the modified rolls shown in Figs. 2 and 3 withoutinjuring them in any manner.

Having thus described ourinvention, what we claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is

1. The herein-described process of disintegrating fibrous substances,consisting in re volving a suitable quantity of the-stock to be reducedupon its own axis under pressure.

2. The herein-described process of disintegrating fibrous substances,consisting in revolving a suitable quantity of stock to be reduced uponits own axis and at right angles to the grain thereof.

3. The herein-described process of disintegrating, washing, and feltingfibrous substances, consisting in repeatedly rolling upon its own axisunder pressure and under water a suitable quantity of stock after eachrolling operation, breaking the resulting wad, and then gathering theseparated stock into a wad and again rolling it upon its own axis.

4:. A fiber-disintegrating apparatus com- 7. A fiber-disintegrating rollhaving annuiar grooves to form water-ways and longitudinal ribs, for thepurpose specified, combined with a concaved surface and a wire-nettingplaced around the said roll, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof we affix our signatures in presence of twowitnesses. 4

JOHN B. CARTER.

JESSE I-I. BERST.

Witnesses:

ALLEN S. PATTISON, J. M. NEsBIT.

